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Travel stories and advice

Packing for a trip is tough. Most of us have done it many, many times, and yet we still dread it and end up taking more than we need.

A short travel story

Once, checking my suitcase on a flight from Los Angeles to the east coast of the U.S., I made the mistake of not checking the baggage allowance rules. The big suitcase (a huge rental — renting suitcases is a great idea!) I’d brought from Tokyo to LA was too big for a domestic flight. Or should I say, it was too heavy. My sister had already dropped me off and left (not her fault; I told her to go), so I had no choice but to throw some hiking boots in the trash in order to make the weight limit. The LAX people wouldn’t let me pay extra. “It’s the rule,” they said unsympathetically. The boots weren’t new, but it still felt horrible to just throw them away.